Park Theatre announces 2016 season

The Park Theatre have announced their 2016 season with highlights including seven world premieres and a British musical based on the The Beggar's Opera.

The season opens with the UK premiere of 4000 Days running from 14 January to 13 February. Written by Olivier and Tony-nominated writer Peter Quilter and directed by Matt Aston, the cast includes Alistair McGowan who returns to the Park following his acclaimed performance in An Audience with Jimmy Saville. The play follows Michael as he wakes up from a coma to remember nothing of his life from the past decade.

Up next will be the world premiere of The Patriotic Traitor written and directed by multi-award winner Jonathan Lynn. Examining the true story of the wartime relationship between Charles de Gaulle and Phillippe Petain, The Patriotic Traitor is about two giants of history and runs from 17 February 19 March.

Don't Sleep There Are Snakes runs from 22 March to 23 April. A new play by Sebastian Armesto and Dudley Hinton with theatre company simple8, the show is based on the true story and book by Daniel Everett. Everett, a linguist, is sent to a remote Amazonian tribe on a missionary to convert them to Christianity but as he struggles to communicate, his faith is questioned and his understanding of what it means to be human.

A new musical inspired by John Gay's classic opera The Beggar's Opera runs next (28 April to 5 June). The world premiere of Dougal Irvine's show, The Busker's Opera is set in London in 2012 as a group of street performers gather in protest against the over-priced, corporate games.

The season closes with the premiere of The Quiet House, an original drama by Gareth Farr. Directed by Tessa Walker, the play is presented in association with the London Women's Clinic and explores the pain of infertility and the taboo that surrounds it (runs 7 June to 8 July).

Highlights from the Park 90 Theatre include a double bill presented by Olivier Award-winner Guy Masterson of Absolution and Bill Clinton Hercules (17 May to 11 June), a production from Two Shed Theatre of African Gothic, a play written during the apartheid era by Reza De Wet (3 December to 23 January) and the premiere of Sket (19 April to 14 May) by Maya Sondhi which follows the lives of six young adults as they negotiate the minefield of technological advances, ever-changing laws and moral dilemmas of sexting and selfies.

Park Theatre artistic director Jez Bond commented: "We are committed to presenting world class theatre…Our last season delivered phenomenal successes…and I'm confident that this new season of work will challenge, entertain and stimulate audiences old and new."